About On Deck

On Deck Online is just that - an online version of my weekly look-ahead-at-area-sports column, "On Deck," that appears in the Times Argus print edition on Mondays. Keep checking back for live blogs of games (from gyms, fields and rinks that actually have wireless); extra quotes that didn't make it into my stories; the occasional mail bag to respond to email from readers; good writing I find from newspapers and sports sites around the country; and more.

08/31/2009

Let the games begin

Today was the first official day of the fall 2009 season, and as you'll see in Tuesday's paper, I went over to Chelsea to cover girls soccer.

Pete Hartt once told me about a day he spent covering soccer with another writer, and it was I guess a really nice, warmish fall day, and Pete said, "It's kind of like stealing, huh?"

Well, yeah, kinda. I admit my job, 99 days out of 100, is pretty sweet and I enjoy it to the point where yeah, some days it totally feels like stealing. And those days are usually the ones where I'm out covering games or talking with whoever for a feature.

And so it is with the Chelsea crowd. There were a group of parents who were upset with how the girls basketball championship got reported this winter, and long story short, they're right. The kids deserved better. But aside from that, what I remember best about the Chelsea athletic programs is an email I got from Grace Amber (a senior on last spring's lacrosse team) and the rest of her team in response to a column I wrote about how the "big" schools cry foul a lot more often than the "small" schools. I basically thanked schools like Chelsea and Twinfield and Cabot and Williamstown and all the other smaller schools who routinely call in their games and are pleasant to talk to and don't get all angry with us for not writing about a dunk or not photographing their kid enough or whathaveyou (yes, all that and more happens more often than you'd think). And to be fair, not every team or coach or parent from the bigger schools contact us all mad about weird things, it just is enough of a pattern to really notice (and yes, there are plenty of times when the gripe is a legitimate one, and we do our best to fix it as fast as possible). So anyway, Grace thanked us, and it was just a really nice email and totally illustrated my point. So thanks again, Grace, and you're welcome.

So here's to a new season. Please make it so we only have to write positive things. Please continue to make me feel like I have the coolest job in the world. Thanks in advance.